


A Night To Remember

by afteriwake



Series: Stuff Of Improbable Legends [73]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Awkward Dates, Best Date Ever, Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Sex, Caught In Rain, Date Night, Exes, F/M, Fights, First Time, Fist Fights, Girl Fight, Kissing in the Rain, Loss of Virginity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7169285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While out on their date for her birthday, Zoe and James run across his ex, and end up having an unexpected end to the evening that makes this birthday the best one Zoe's ever had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Night To Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sideofrawr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sideofrawr/gifts).



> So this is a ( _very_ belated) log that incorporates two snippets from "[The Most Unexpected Person At The Most Unexpected Time](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6620011)" that I wrote for **sideofrawr** that is for Zoe's birthday and has (a) her punching Amelia and (b) her and James sleeping together for the first time, which basically makes it the Best Birthday Ever. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.

Even before the actual date, he had managed to make it the best birthday she’d ever had. She had never felt so ridiculously spoiled on her birthday before, and the fact that James had even bothered to do everything he had done, from the coffee and the beignets to the flowers all the way to the kitten when he showed up at her door...if she hadn’t already told him she’d loved him before, she certainly would have today. She wasn’t used to anyone actually _caring_ so much, and here he was, treating her like a princess.

How she had gotten so lucky, she didn’t know.

They had gone to Wasabi Lakeview and enjoyed a really good meal there, and now they were walking around in the Quarter, holding hands. It was nice being out and about with him. She had kind of figured with Desiree there she wasn’t going to get as much of his time, and even though she knew if the little girl stayed that it would remain the way it was she _really_ hoped that when the unwanted guests like his ex went back to the places and times they were from Desiree got to stay. She loved seeing the two of them together. He was such a _great_ dad. But she had to admit, getting alone time with him was nice, too.

“So you have a whole night of freedom?” she asked, moving closer to him.

He nodded. “Mom and Dad declared grandparent's rights when Livvy suggested I just get a hotel suite for the night for us. So I just got Livvy the hotel suite instead, in case she wanted to share it with her boyfriend. Figured she could pamper herself since she’s working her butt off, so I left a tab for room service in the morning.”

“Room service would have been nice,” Zoe said with a mock sigh.

“Yeah, but you get me making you breakfast in bed,” he said, stopping and pulling her close against him. “And I’ll make you whatever you want.”

“Mmm...almost as tempting as room service,” she said, looking up at him with a smile.

“I can also serve it to you while wearing no shirt,” he said with a smirk.

She laughed and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well then yeah, that beats room service,” she said. They were getting closer to being intimate, she knew that. She had things with her just in case, because she never knew if or when it might happen and she lived by the well-worn motto “be prepared.” And she had to admit, if it did tonight? She wouldn’t mind it at all. She’d been having more and more thoughts in that direction, wondering what it would be like, if it would be anything like kissing him.

He’d been truthful with her about the fact he’d had two partners, and that the other one had been Emalyn, and how all of that had come about. She could tell he was keeping some of the details to himself, but since Emalyn was his best friend and it was business between them and he was probably respecting her privacy she respected it. He had told her he wanted her to know because even now he still had no idea how many men Amelia had been with, and she’d thanked him for being honest but told him it didn’t matter. He’d relaxed after that and then they’d gone back to making out, but she could tell he had been glad to get that off his chest. Truth be told, she’d just been glad his taste had improved after Amelia. The one encounter she’d had in person and the one on the boards had been enough for her. If she never had to see the woman again, she’d be great.

After a moment, she stopped thinking when James leaned in to kiss her, and she found herself not caring that they were in the middle of a busy sidewalk and anyone could see. She never cared who was around when he kissed her, not after the first time when Chris walked in on them kissing at the Center. She just _really_ liked kissing him, and the more often they did it the more comfortable she felt. She hadn’t thought she’d be a PDA person, but perhaps she’d just needed to meet the right guy.

“Ugh,” she heard a distinctive voice say, and James pulled away with a sigh. She had to resist the urge to glare as she turned and saw the ex in question looking at the two of them, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “Since when were _you_ all into PDAs?” Amelia asked.

“Since I moved on from you to date someone who doesn’t use physical affection as a bribe to get what she wants,” James said flatly, glaring at her. “I’m in the middle of a date, Amelia. What do you want?”

“You know, for someone who wanted that kid so damn much, you’re doing a shitty parenting job by ignoring her,” Amelia said.

“His parents are watching her,” Zoe said.

Amelia turned and glared at her. “I wasn’t talking to you, bitch.”

Zoe’s eyes widened and James put a hand out to keep her from going after Amelia right then. “Not worth it,” he said quietly.

“Tempting, though,” Zoe said back.

“What are you two saying?” Amelia snapped.

“I’m trying to convince my girlfriend not to beat your ass,” James said.

Amelia scoffed. “Like that little _noroma_ could lay a finger on me. She’s a little weakling. You really did yourself a disservice, James. You picked someone who was _hetakuso_.”

James looked down at Zoe and saw the blaze of anger in her eyes and then lifted his hand up. Zoe moved forward, stood nearly toe to toe with Amelia, then got into the best position she could to knock the woman down with one punch and took her swing, breaking Amelia’s nose in the process with a satisfying crunch. Amelia crumpled to the ground in a heap. It had felt _good_ to punch that...that... _harlot_ in the face.

Whatever type of relationship she had with James was none of his ex’s business. Amelia had ruined his life in his time and hurt him and she had no right to try and do it again now. And if Amelia thought she could try and drive a wedge between them then she was _sorely_ mistaken. She shook her wrist and James reached over to take her hand in his, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. She could see Amelia glaring at them as he did that. “Thank you,” he said.

“Well, I don’t want to see her hurt you,” she said. “And I don’t want her to ruin anything between us.”

“She won’t,” he said, turning his gaze to his ex and glaring. “Despite what Amelia thinks, she doesn’t have any say in my life anymore. She took what I had to offer and threw it away. So after all the hell I went through after that, I moved on. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her ruin our relationship, too. And if she tries to hurt you, I’ll make her regret it in ways the other people I care about haven’t.”

She had to admit, the way Amelia’s face blanched was almost as satisfying as the moment it had been when she had punched her. _Almost_. She knew James would keep that promise, and that warmed her heart more than anything else he could have said right them. She then looked around and realized they had gathered a crowd, and that Amelia was starting to get up. “We should probably get out of here.”

“In a minute,” he said before moving away from her. He moved over to Amelia and squatted down next to her, saying something to her as she sat up. She glared at him and then spit in his face. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, shrugged, and then stood up and went back over to Zoe. “All right. Let’s go.”

“What did you say to her?” Zoe asked as he wiped the back of his hands on his pants.

“I asked her if she wanted to see Desiree one last time before she went back to wherever she came from. She said she hoped that when she left, the baby went with her just so my heart would be broken.” He used his clean hand to reach over for Zoe’s hand. “She’s an evil person. I guess that just confirmed it.”

Zoe nodded. “I guess so.” She was going to say something else but the paused. “Did you feel that?”

“The raindrop?” he asked.

She nodded as another one fell, and then a third. “I think we’re about to get rained on.”

“It wasn’t supposed to rain until later,” he groaned. “I thought we’d be back at my place by then. And we’re, like, twelve blocks from the car.”

“No way we’ll make it there before we get soaked, even if we make a mad dash,” Zoe said as the rain began to start falling more steadily.

James let go of her hand and shrugged out of his suit jacket, holding it over her head. “I can afford to get a little more soaked than you, birthday girl.”

“Are you sure your Uncle Jim should be the one with the Prince Charming nickname?” she asked, giving him a grin.

He shook his head as he laughed. “I may call you Knight Protector after tonight, and then you two can kind of be twins,” he said. “Which would be cool.”

“Well, I want _you_ to be _my_ Prince Charming,” she said.

He lowered the jacket slightly and pulled her close to kiss her, and she didn’t care that she was getting wet. It was rather nice to kiss in the rain, she thought to herself. “Maybe I can be your Prince Charming,” he said, keeping her close. “Even if I’m not all that charming.”

“I think you’re charming,” she said. “And sweet, and romantic, and almost perfect.”

“And you love me,” he said with a grin.

“Yes, I do,” she said.

“Good, because I love you too.” After a moment, he let her go and held his jacket up over her head again as they began the trek back to his car. Once they got inside he turned the heater up full blast as they began the drive back to Greaves House. Somehow tonight, after getting caught out in the rain and ending up soaked to the bone and back at his apartment dripping all over the floor, she had the feeling something was going to change. 

He’d offered to let her wear one of his shirts to sleep in since they’d made a made dash for building three and left her overnight bag in the car, so now she had on a T-shirt of his and was towel drying her hair. He had on a pair of sweats and no shirt and she was struck by just how muscular he was, how good he looked. She had _known_ , but seeing him tonight...

She moved over to him and he reached forward, putting his hands on her waist. She placed her hands on his chest, enjoying the feel of his warm skin under her palms and then kissed him softly. After a few moments, he crushed her against him, the kiss growing more passionate as his hands slid under the shirt she was wearing. She soon pulled her lips away and hesitantly kissed his neck. He groaned at that and she got bolder, nipping at his skin lightly. He dug his fingers into her waist as he tilted his head to the side to give her more access, but after a moment he lifted her up and she pulled her lips away and looked down at him before she wrapped her legs around his waist and he started making his way to his bedroom.

Yes, tonight was _definitely_ going to mark a change in things...

**Author's Note:**

> **Translations:**   
>  **noroma -** _twit, dunce, slowpoke_   
>  **hetakuso -** _clumsy/lacking skill_


End file.
